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Month: June 2016

Seagulls can drink both fresh and salt water. The salt they take in is absorbed and moves through their blood stream into a pair of salt glands above their eyes. The densely salty fluid is excreted from the nostrils and runs down grooves in the bill. http://birdnote.org/show/seabirds-drink-salt-water

Every four years in the Gregorian calendar, an extra day is added to the calendar (February 29th) in order to synchronize it with the solar year. The extra day is called a leap day, or an intercalary day. Have you noticed that, in the U.S., leap year coincides with presidential election years? http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/14/world/leap-year-fast-facts/

Two-day old chicken embryos have what looks like a very reptilian tail with 16 vertebrae. Later in development, though, most of the vertebrae disappear until only five are left. Scientist Hans Larsson, a palaeontologist at McGill University in Canada, conducted an experiment in November 2007 to gain more information about the evolution from dinosaurs’ long tails […]

If unraveled and stretched out, the DNA in the nucleus of a single human cell would be about 2 meters long, or 6 1/2 feet!! Taggart, Ralph, Christine Evers, and Lisa Starr. “4.6 The Nucleus.” Cell Biology and Genetics. By Cecie Starr. Vol. 1. N.p.: Cengage Learning, 2015. 62-63. Print.

Contrary to other mammalian species, small dogs have a longer average life span than the larger breeds. This hasn’t been 100% explained yet, but many scientists believe that this is because large dogs age at an accelerated rate and may succumb to age-related illnesses sooner. Scientists have concluded that every 4.4 pounds of body mass […]